Wednesday, 30 September 2009

While I have to agree with Hot Air that the list of Polanski apologists is largely “European and unfamiliar,” the number of Americans on it is non-zero, and therefore disappointing. A Libertyblog axiom, that all major news stories can be linked somehow to Monty Python and the Holy Grail or Animal House, is borne out by the presence of Terry Gilliam and John Landis. Very sad.

Buck Henry appears to have taken the theme of the old Saturday Night Live “stunt baby” sketch a little too far in granting his approval to the rape of a 13-year-old.

I was curious too about the fallout on this for one political party. What do petition signers Jonathan Demme, Buck Henry, Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen—and let’s thrown in Debra Winger, who called me a philistine—have in common? A record of contributions to Dems.

Which is why I suspect Obambi will not interfere with this extradition. His calling Kanye West a “jackass” was a well-received warmup. If all of Eastern Europe can be thrown under the bus, surely there’s some room left for Hollywood.

One reason the Dem health insurance effort has been so unpopular is that it managed to incorporate every bad left-wing idea of the last thirty years: overregulation, socialism, higher taxes, benefits for illegals, and even suppression of free speech. Today, the left got a chance to renew its perverse view that killing the unborn is a healthy thing.

Health care workers are refusing swine flu shots despite a termination threat. Offer them a small bonus instead of threatening to fire them. Oh, and fire any who actually miss work because of the swine flu. (Via Drudge.)

Looking to prevent your home from becoming a tagger’s canvas? The city of LA has a plan that asks homeowners to pitch in or pay -- whether they want to or not.

All new buildings in Los Angeles -- including homes -- must have anti-graffiti coating under an ordinance approved unanimously by the City Council on Tuesday. Homes in the tag. There is an exception if the owners promise to remove any graffiti on their property soon after it appears.

Oops, I left something out. That exception is an “enforcement nightmare.”

And yes, this is the same sort of coating noted vandal and Obambi rumpswab Shepard Fairey used to keep people from vandalizing his property. (Via Drudge.)

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

No Hollywood screenwriter could sell a script where the defenders of a fictional pedophile rapist included ... Woody Allen. Also, those of us who think even famous directors should go to jail for raping 13-year-olds have been labeled “philistines” by Debra Winger. I’ll have to learn to live with that.

One of President Barack Obama’s health care “horror stories” is about a woman who, he says, lost her health insurance on the verge of breast cancer surgery because she didn’t disclose a case of acne to the insurer. That’s not what happened.

Robin Lynn Beaton, 59, of Waxahachie, Texas, indeed had her insurance suspended and then terminated when she needed it the most. Hers is a cautionary tale about how an insurance company can act in a seemingly arbitrary manner to revoke coverage for lifesaving treatment.

But not for the reasons Obama cites.

She “was about to get a double mastectomy when her insurance company canceled her policy because she forgot to declare a case of acne,” he said in one telling.

Beaton did not lose her insurance because she failed to own up to a skin problem in her past. She lost it because, when enrolling in the plan, she had not reported a previous heart condition and did not list her weight accurately.

Obama tells stories of real-life hardships repeatedly, in his speech to a joint session of Congress, in interviews and at his citizen meetings across the country in support of his campaign to rework medical insurance. Beaton’s case is just one cited by Obama that mixes fact with fiction.

Moonbats got the bad news today that there is no pony under the health insurance pile of shit. A Senate committee rejected two different versions of a “public option” plan. Twofer could not be reached for comment on the question of whether she is once again not proud of America.

The bad news: Now that driving over the cliff at eighty miles an hour is off the table, driving over the cliff at forty miles an hour is up for discussion.

Dorm rooms doubling as steamy love huts have Tufts University throwing cold water on sex on campus - at least when horny students let it all hang out in front of red-faced roommates.

“You may not engage in sexual activity while your roommate is present in the room,” tuts Tufts’ 2009-10 guest policy, newly revised in response to student gripes about rambunctious roomies and their raunchy romps.

Nice alliteration, Boston Herald writers, you have a future in snarky blogwriting if real journalism doesn’t work out. One criticism: The precise definition of “sexual activity” is not presented. Is this a Clinton standard? Also, are gangbangs automatically proscribed? A potential Hofstra University transfer student may want to know, as well as a young lady from Milton Academy.

Meanwhile, another institution of higher learing in Beantown is taking the Sergeant Schultz approach:

“As a Catholic university, we do not allow cohabitation in our residence halls,” Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn said.

That which you don’t acknowledge is happening need not be regulated at all. Now that’s Jesuitical thinking.

Finally:

Amber Madison of New York, a 2005 Tufts grad who wrote a sex column called “Between the Sheets” for the student newspaper, said her classmates used to make do hanging objects on doorknobs or marking a note board to signal they weren’t alone.

It would be interesting to compare the note board markings left by participants with those added by passersby in the hall. (Via Drudge.)

A New York appellate court has thrown out Dan Rather’s claim against CBS, finding he was owed only the compensation promised in his contract, not that compensation plus air time on the network. Considering the damage to CBS’s reputation caused by Rathergate, Rather is rather lucky to have gotten his $6 million per year while waiting for final dismissal. (Via Drudge.)